Samurai
Samurai are Japanese warriors who adhere to the discipline of bushido (honor) and fight their enemies using ancient martial arts. Therefore they start out lawful and human, but can be of either gender. The Samurai is one of the strongest roles in the early game, and thus an excellent choice for a new player. The guidebook describes them like this: Samurai are the elite warriors of feudal Nippon. They are lightly armored and quick, and wear the dai-sho, two swords of the deadliest keenness. Starting inventory Each samurai starts with the following:u_init.c#line131, u_init.c#line695 * a +0 katana (samurai sword) * a +0 wakizashi (short sword) * a +0 yumi (bow) * 26 to 45 ya (bamboo arrows) * a +0 rustproof splint mail * a blindfold (20% chance)u_init.c#line695 Instead of a random pet, a samurai always starts with a little dog called Hachi, in reference to Hachikō. Intrinsics Samurai gain intrinsics at these experience levels:attrib.c#line75 * Level 1: speed * Level 15: stealth Skills Quest The Samurai quest item is the Tsurugi of Muramasa, a powerful two-handed sword with the ability to bisect enemies (i. e. kill them outright) 5% of the time, much like the Vorpal Blade. Therefore it is not a good idea to engage your nemesis in honourable melee combat, since he might bisect you; making things worse, he ignores Elbereth. It's better to zap him with a wand of death. If you don't have one, other techniques include zapping him with a wand of sleep or hurling a potion of paralysis at him before attacking so that he can't fight back, protecting yourself with a scroll of earth on the upstair and killing him with ranged attacks, polymorphing into a black dragon and disintegrating him, and so forth. If you have a strong melee attack, you could just wear an amulet of life saving and hope for the best, possibly retreating if you have to burn the amulet; actually, having an amulet of life saving is probably a good idea anyway no matter what strategy you choose, just in case you get unlucky. The Tsurugi is an excellent weapon in the mid-game (i. e. from the Quest to Gehennom), but becomes weaker in the end-game because it doesn't deal double damage like some other artifact weapons. (Frost Brand, Fire Brand, Grayswandir and the Staff of Aesculapius.) Once you have enough scrolls to enchant your primary weapon up to +7. you'll want to make the Tsurugi your back up. But until then, happy bisecting! The quest is notable for producing a lot of loot, especially attack wands, which your opponents will use against you. Reflection, or at least resistance to sleep, fire, and cold, are highly desirable. Rank titles The status line shows you to be one of the following ranks when you reach the specified experience level: *XL 1-2: Hatamoto *XL 3-5: Ronin *XL 6-9: Ninja/Kunoichi *XL 10-13: Joshu *XL 14-17: Ryoshu *XL 18-21: Kokushu *XL 22-25: Daimyo *XL 26-29: Kuge *XL 30: Shogun Japanese names for items Since the samurai are Japanese, some of the game items use Japanese names in place of their regular English names when playing as a Samurai. The following is a list of those items with their Japanese names: There are also some regular items that are uniquely Japanese. Once identified, these are described using their Japanese name, regardless of which role you are playing. These items are the following: * ya ("bamboo arrow") * yumi ("long bow") * katana ("samurai sword") * tsurugi ("long samurai sword") * shuriken ("throwing star") Finally, if playing as a samurai and losing a level, you receive the message "Sayonara lvl..." instead of the usual goodbye. Code of Conduct The bushido code requires that samurai behave honorably. Dishonorable acts will incur an alignment penalty and display a guilt message. Examples include: * Digging up a grave: -1 "You disturb the honorable dead!" * Attacking a peaceful creature: -1 "You dishonorably attack the innocent!" * Attacking with a poisoned weapon: -1 "You dishonorably use a poisoned weapon!" A Samurai with a non-Lawful alignment (probably from wearing a Helm of opposite alignment) will still receive the message, but will not suffer the alignment penalty. Strategy The samurai strategy is very simple. If it moves, stab it. The samurai are also good ranged warriors, receiving a bonus to hit and damage when shooting ya from a yumi. Samurai aren't good at spell casting. However, the katana and splint mail they start with make the first few levels a breeze. As far as weapons go, the samurai should not bother with any sword other than a long sword. The katana they start with is the finest one-handed non-artifact weapon in the game. Since the samurai can reach expert level in two-weapon combat they are better off swinging two long swords/katana than one of any larger non-artifact weapon. However, in the early game it is important to build up skill in individual weapons, which cannot be done while using two weapons. Of course, the samurai becomes even more powerful with an artifact weapon. Early options include Snickersnee, a buffed-up katana that you can get by sacrificing to your God, or Excalibur, an artifact weapon that has a 1/6 chance of being created if you dip a long sword into a fountain. Do this after you have attained experience level 5, but preferably 7. Note that you must use an actual long sword to accomplish this, do not dip your starting katana into a fountain to try to accomplish this. Once you have a decent artifact weapon and expert skill in long sword, slide your original katana over to the secondary hand in two-weapon combat, and it will continue to add its damage to your attacks. Don't use the wakizashi for two-weapon combat because it's a short sword; a type of sword inferior to all other swords in inflicting damage. Find a long sword, which will share the skills you gained with the katana. A crysknife is good, but might not be worth the effort it takes to make one. Advancing multiple other weapon skills beyond basic level should be avoided, due to the finite number of skill slots available to you. If you don't care about riding or spells, however, it is not an issue. Save slots for two-weaponing, longsword, possibly saber, and bow. The yumi is a good long distance ranged weapon, especially since it can shoot 2 ya in a single turn. It will aid you in situations where melee combat may prove fatal -- fighting floating eyes and cockatrices for example. However, veteran players recommend that the bow skill should only be advanced to skilled level, not expert level. This is so you can save expert level slots for later. In the long term, the best artifact weapon for the Samurai is the Frost Brand. The most damaging all-purpose melee attack in the game comes from a samurai double wielding a +7 Frost Brand and a +7 katana. This assumes 18/** STR and expert level in both two-weapon combat and long sword. Next comes the Fire Brand, then Grayswandir, and then the Tsurugi of Muramasa. If you have some wishes to burn, consider the Sceptre of Might, the Magic Mirror of Merlin or the Orb of Detection for magic resistance. In the non-artifact category, gray or silver dragon scale mail is a must-have, as is a good pair of fireproof speed boots. Strategy in SLASH'EM Samurai can be played more or less the same way in SLASH'EM as in Vanilla. Just be a little more wary of enemies' stronger attack power, using your ya and scribbling the E word whenever enemies are near. * The "kiii" technique gives a temporary boost to your attack power. Due to the Samurai's already super-strong attack power, you may never use it, but it can be useful if you're facing somewhat powerful enemies and want to take them out quickly. * SLASH'EM allows you to #twoweapon two artifacts at the same time. Considering that Samurai can easily get both Excalibur and Snickersnee - two of the most powerful weapons in the game - and are able to advance both longsword and #twoweapon to expert, this is a huge advantage. * Since a Samurai wielding both Excalibur and Snickersnee will do large amounts of damage even with zero enchantment, enchanting your weapons is a low priority. If you find any scrolls of enchant weapon, consider blessing it and enchanting your unicorn horn - enchanting unicorn horns increases their chances of working in SLASH'EM. * Save up gold for shops: along with rogues and barbarians, samurai are massively overcharged in shops, paying twice as much. This is mainly relevant when you find a magic lamp in a shop, which in SLASH'EM has a base price of 1000zm. Encyclopedia entry References Category:Roles